Nate Learns to Love Shots

Ok, not really. But we had a great six month visit to his doctor. Nate is now 19 lbs. 6 ozs. and is 27 1/4 inches. He apparently peaked at four months in terms of the chubby factor. He's dropped to the 85th percentile for weight and the 75th for height. He is still in the 75th percentile for head circumference.

His heart and lungs sounded great and the doc was happy with his gross motor development. And she said his head looks great! No helmet for Nate! Phew. All that time spent in the jumperoo has paid off, Buddy.

She said we could start feeding Nate meat, so we just went ahead last night. Have y'all ever had pureed chicken? It smells like cat food and tastes like cardboard. Actually, that's not true. It tastes like chicken. But like chicken that was way overcooked and dried out before it was pureed. It has a grainy texture to it. Anyway, Nate L.O.V.E.D. it. He doesn't open that wide for anything except prunes and apples. This kid is a carnivore! After my own heart.

He did actually do pretty well with his shots this time. Far less tears, and he seemed to be in good sprits the rest of the day, which is quite different from his two month and four month visits. Our little champ is getting tough.

This post has to be short and sweet, and I have no new pics. I know, I'm awful.

It's Been How Long?

This kid will be six months old on Thursday. SIX MONTHS! I can't believe a half a year has just breezed on by. And how different life is! Shall we do a then and now?

Then:

I think Nate was about 2 weeks old in that pic. What a cutie pie.

And now:

Right? He's just his own little person now, isn't he? And he is, indeed, totally handsome. Can you spy his two, count 'em, two little teeth on the bottom?

It's so great to see his personality emerging. He is a very happy little (ok, huge) guy. He loves to talk and loves to make new friends. He's independent, but not a loner by any stretch. He likes peas and loves apples. In his pack of bath toys, he could care less about the tiger in the scuba mask, but goes bananas for the green and purple dinosaur (I keep meaning to get video of that -- he seriously gets a look on his face like he is in total and complete amazement that something so awesome exists in the real world). He loves his bath to the point that if he is so exhausted that he breaks down and throws a serious fit, you can just put him down on the bath mat, run the water and say "are you ready for your bath?" and, all of a sudden, he's smiling and squealing like the bath was all he's ever wanted in this world.

This weekend was pretty exciting for Nate. He had his first swim lesson at the rec center near our house. When the instructor told us the water was cold, I was a little hesitant. I thought he might tolerate it, but that's it. Well, hello Mr. Phelps. Our little dude LOVES the pool. Once he got used to it, he spent about half the lesson laughing and giggling, especially at his cousin, JD. I can't wait to go back next weekend. It was awesome.

Nate (and Mom) also met Nate's new cousin Mary for the first time. She is such a precious bundle of sweetness. It was wonderful to (a) be able to hold such a young baby again and (b) realize that Nate's not that helpless anymore. Soon enough, they'll be old enough that the six month difference in their ages will seem like nothing. That will be fun for them. See, they're already trying to hold hands:

N'aw.

We've got some milestones that Nate has been working on diligently. Just this weekend, he's starting to get the raspberry down. So, watch for flying spit when you come to visit. Seriously though, I love blowing raspberries at him, he always laughs or smiles. Now he can do it back. The other milestone he's working on his his unsupported sitting. See?

Ok, so he can only do it for a few seconds before he falls over, but he's getting much better. I can't wait to be able to put him down sitting up and have him amuse himself with toys on the floor. Oh, and he can start to play with different kinds of toys like rings and buckets and all kinds of stuff that aren't as easy to play with on his back. I love it.

I've lately been pondering life's little ironies that have seemed to crop up in our lives with Nate. Because of him, I'm now always awake early enough to eat the world's best egg and cheese sandwich, which is only available until 10:15 a.m., but I can't eat the cheese now because Nate can't have the dairy. Most importantly in the amusing ironies category is the fact that Nate shares a birthday with his great grandma Anne, but he has the world's craziest hair (Grandma Anne had a serious thing about hair).

Here's one last picture, for good measure:

Nate Meets His Fur Cousin

So I totally forgot to mention in the last post full of firsts that Nate met his fur cousin Theo for the first time! It wasn't actually his first time seeing/meeting a dog, but it was the first time when he was old enough to care. Last time, he was about 2 and a half months and wasn't interested in anything that wasn't directly in his face.

Anyway, I wish I had a picture. They got along famously. Every morning, Theo would run down the stairs and come up and sniff Nate and Nate would bat at Theo's nose. Theo, as the older and wiser cousin, definitely took Nate under his wing. When Nate would cry, Theo would cry. And stand guard to the bedroom. It was adorable. Just as Theo welcomes me as part of his pack when I come for a visit, he did the same for Nate. I felt totally comfortable leaving Nate alone to play with Theo around.

He also is cutting his second tooth. Already! I guess it's better to get them over with together, right? It's the other bottom tooth, right next to the first one.

He also has now met his future college roommate, Lucas (son of my old roommate), who is a little over a month older than Nate. They got along famously! Ok, they totally ignored each other. But we had a wonderful visit from Lucas and his sisters, mom and Mimi. I have some pics, but they're on the other camera. The picture at the bottom here is from our trip to the American History Museum today. He loved it! Ok, he cried a bunch because he couldn't fall asleep and then he finally conked out for an hour. Good times.

To make up for the lack of Nate/Theo and Nate/Lucas pics, here are some random ones:

Why so many of him sleeping? BECAUSE HE'S ADORABLE, THAT'S WHY.

Nate the Jet Setter

OMG, remember when I was going to try to update weekly? Sheesh. So much for that. This kid is FIVE MONTHS OLD! He is such a little person now. He is constantly smiling and giggling and is just way more fun than I ever thought possible. He is still very vocal. He loves to talk and squeal, especially when my coworker and I are trying to talk in the car on the way home from work and daycare. He wants to participate in the discussion! I think his first words will probably come somewhat early. Yesterday, he said "gump!" very matter of factly and then he said "boo." Is gump a word? He clearly was trying to express something with it.

Anyway, the last month has been full of firsts. Firstly of the firsts is, as you know, Nate had his first solid foods. I had to give up on the cereals. He wasn't having it. But now I've reintroduced them into fruits, so at least he's getting his iron. Things Nate seems to like so far are avocado and prunes. He tolerated carrots pretty well too. I think he really enjoys the act of eating, more than the taste. Even when he's making faces about the food I'm giving him, he still gets excited when the spoon is coming and opens wide. It's all practice so far anyway.

Secondly of the firsts is that Nate had his first flight across the country! I had a trip for work, so Nate came with me to San Diego to visit with Aunt Julie and Uncle Chris. I then flew up to Reno to introduce Nate to almost the whole Welco clan. It was great fun. Nate didn't do too badly on the flights, except our jaunt up to Reno, which was 2 hours delayed. No fun. It took him about 3 days to adjust to the time difference, so that's good to know.

Thirdly of the firsts is that, while in SD, we took Natey swimming for the first time! What with our seemingly endless winter, I've been itching to get this kid in swim diapers for quite some time. I think he lasted all of two minutes in the water. It wasn't really warm enough out, but it was still fun to try. Here, see for yourself:






Are you feeling bombarded with all the firsts? Steel yourself for another one, folks, because this guy has got his first tooth!


Ok, this picture is totally blurry, but it's there, I swear! So far, he hasn't bitten me. Well, hard anyway. We'll see how that goes....

Want some more pictures? Here ya go: